My definition of “fool”

“For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,”
-Proverbs 6:23

When I was a teenager, I, like so many other teenagers, thought my parents were idiots. I pretty much decided that they hadn’t the foggiest clue as to the world. They were out of touch and oblivious.

The reason I thought this, of course, was because they didn’t want me to do the stuff I wanted to do. That’s most people’s definition of a fool, by the way – the fool is someone who disagrees with them.

There were so many rules, and I didn’t really see much sense in a lot of them. I would have so preferred to be free, frolicking around and doing whatever I pleased.

In our culture, we so often see rules as something that restricts, that is wrong and confining. The word itself – “rules” – has a negative connotation. Think about the sentence I used earlier: “There were so many rules.” Doesn’t sound good, does it?

Our culture puts freedom above all things, but perfect freedom is not necessarily good. I figured this truth out perhaps a few years too late: my parents weren’t trying to be minor dictators with me – they were trying to light my path.

We learn things along the way, and these things would be of great benefit to those generations who come after, if only they weren’t so proud that they refused to listen. But there was a reason my parents told me to be in at a certain time. There was a reason why they told me no when it came to this toy or that. There was a reason they disciplined me, and it wasn’t because they just felt like it.

My parents’ rules were not designed to ruin my fun. They were designed to guide me. Their punishments were not designed to hurt me, but to lead me to something better.

It is that way with God. God does have rules, and most people think they are too strict and puritanical. We never consider that God may know something we don’t. We never consider that the wisest being in the entire galaxy, who loves us greatly, is trying to protect us. He knows everything, and He loves us. Isn’t that a good reason to listen to Him?

We have rebelled against Him, of course. We have mocked Him publically with blasphemies. We have taken His name and used it like a cuss word. We have preferred TV and sports to worship of Him. We have offended our Heavenly Father.

And in love, He will forgive the repentant ones. He even sent His Son to die in our place so that we would not have to face the punishment for our sins. He has sent His Spirit to guide us to the light – that light we so often and scornfully abandon.

I guess I’ve lived long enough to trust the words of my parents. I didn’t think much of them then, but I think much of them now. It is the same with God, only more so. He never misleads, never missteps. His guidance is perfect in all circumstances, even when we have rebelled against Him.

The influence of a parent

“When you walk, they [your parents’ teachings] will lead you; when you lie down, they will watch over you; and when you awake, they will talk with you.”
-Proverbs 6:22

There isn’t a day that goes by that my parents’ influence isn’t evident in my life. I may not even think about it, but their wisdom from the first two decades of my life has influenced everything. It’s like an instinct now, those things they have instilled in me.

And they are there at all times. It’s not as though I have to really concentrate to remember what my father taught me about honest work, or what my mother taught me about the Bible. I just know.

Ultimately, this is what frightens me about how the role of the parent is being deemphasized in our culture. America tells you to dump your kids off at daycare and then go to work where you can fulfill your potential. America tells you that you don’t need a man to help you raise your son.

Most people don’t realize that there is something important going on even in a game of catch. It is something that cannot be replaced. Ever.

The Bible teaches us that a father should be the spiritual leader of the family. I could lament how much we men have failed at that duty, but let’s be honest – far too many fathers aren’t even in the home. It would do little good for me to talk about a lack of Bible studies when the first problem is a lack of fathers.

God has chosen for Himself the title of “Father.” There is something really wonderful about that title, and it’s something that may now be lost on so many people who have had really terrible experiences with their earthly fathers, or maybe don’t even know who their fathers are.

But if fallen humans are dragging the name through the mud, let us remember that they have taken something wonderful and blessed, something modeled after God’s relationship with us, and tainted it, but that does not change the faithfulness and love of the original.

If you haven’t been the man you should be, I would ask you to look at how God has modeled that for us. Look upon His love, His sacrifice, and His unending provision. If you have a lower view of that word “father,” look not at those who have failed to live up to it, but the one who set the standard. He is filled with compassion and comfort.

This is the Father who sent His only Son to die upon the Cross for us. In our sin, we have fallen short of His glory, but in the death of Jesus, He provided a sacrifice that would satisfy justice so that we could be forgiven. Repent and have faith in Him, the only one who is worth our faith.

He has written His Word down for us in the Bible. Let this Word lead you. Read it so that it will follow you around, awake or asleep. Our human fathers, to one degree or another, will probably fail at some point, but not the original Father.

Remember this one?

“Bind them [your parents’ teachings] on your heart always; tie them around your neck.”
-Proverbs 6:21

My wife and I are meeting with some friends of ours every week right now to discuss our marriages and lives. In a lot of ways, it has been a very rewarding experience. In honesty and love we are able to really talk about our successes and failings and what God is doing in our lives. I frankly have far too few friendships like this.

One of the most rewarding aspects of these meetings is that we have been asked to memorize a passage of Scripture every week. I have, honestly, been a lazy memorizer. I will read the Bible like crazy, but I have so many projects that I don’t ever sit still long enough to memorize.

And that’s a really terrible thing to say, because it’s not that I don’t recognize the importance of this. It would be one thing if I just didn’t think it would be worthwhile, but I really do think it’s a great habit. I memorized Romans 8:28 several years ago (“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose,” NASB), and I have literally used it in conversation more times than I can remember. It has been a wonderful comfort to me, and I’ve had it with me to help others.

And I just don’t continue that habit.

When Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness, He didn’t lean on His own power to refute the devil, but He quoted Scripture. He quoted, in fact, from Deuteronomy. A couple of things stand out here. First of all, if Jesus felt the need to turn to the Word, how much more do I need it? Secondly (and I’m borrowing this from a sermon I heard recently), if my ability to resist temptation depends on how well I remember Deuteronomy, I’m in trouble!

It’s not just Deuteronomy. I have to repent of my laziness on this. I really don’t turn to the Word as much and as seriously as I should, and neither do you.

This is the written revelation of God, and I find myself more interested in other things most of the time. That is a convicting statement to me! It is embarrassing to admit, that I chase after entertainment so often rather than the God-breathed Scripture.

I am so thankful that Jesus did not stumble where I do. I am so glad that He took it seriously enough to remember those passages from Deuteronomy to refute the devil where I so often fail against him. I am thankful because, obviously, I have not lived a life that will earn me any sort of favor from God. People like to say that they are good people, but we are not. We chase lust, greed, ambition, selfishness, and pride above God all the time.

But Jesus did live that perfect life. He was sinless, and when He died, He took our place in death, so that we may have life. When I consider what He went through for me, I cannot help but to fall to my knees in repentance at His feet and beg for forgiveness.

And by that faith, I am forgiven.

It’s a wonderful truth, and it’s all found in our Father’s Word. It’s a story I really would like to learn better.

Podcast: 1 John: The Good, the Bad, and the Forgiven

This is a transcript of one of our recent podcasts. To subscribe to the podcast using iTunes, please click here. To listen to the podcast without iTunes, please follow this link.

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
-1 John 3:4-10

There is a common thread that runs through pretty much all major religions in the world. The reason it runs through all these religions is that it runs through us as well. This thread is the belief that we will be rewarded or punished for our actions.

We sort of take that one for granted, don’t we? If we work hard at our careers, we expect a bigger raise. If we are generally good people, then we expect to be respected and liked. If we give money to charity, we expect a tax break for it. Even as kids we are told that Santa gives presents to good kids, or that mommy will buy us a toy if we’re good. If something bad happens, we respond with statements like, “I didn’t deserve that!”

Religion is usually like that. Each religion acknowledges a set of rules and philosophies, and the basic message is that you will be rewarded for following those rules and philosophies. In other words, these are things you have to do to please God.

We have to watch ourselves when we are in passages like this that we don’t fall into that sort of philosophy. We have to make sure that we don’t say, “Okay, I see. I need to be righteous and then God will like me.” That’s not what this is about. This is not saying that if you sin at all, then you’ve proven that you’re not a Christian. We know this because John has already explained in the last chapter that Jesus remains our advocate, even when we do sin, and previous to that, that anyone who claims to be without sin is a liar.

So to unpack this, let’s start with the source. Look closely at this passage. What does John say as to the source of this righteousness? “You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; . . . The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.”

What is the source here? It’s not us. Those who are born of God do not make a practice of sinning. He cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.

It’s not out of ourselves that we keep from sinning. It’s who we are. If you miss this point, you’re going to miss everything, and you’re going to walk away from this passage with a legalistic view of God, and you’re going to fail to reach the standard put here. You’re going to try, out of your own selves, to be righteous, and you’re not going to do it.

No, what is being described in this passage is not what you have to do to make yourself pleasing to God, but a description of the children of God and the children of the devil. The children of God act righteously because they are children of God. That is the reason for it.

The solution here is not to try harder to make yourself righteous. It’s to figure out whose child you are. Do you make it a practice to keep sinning? Does it even cross your mind that you are disobeying God? Do you like sin more than you like God?

If so – and this may be a hard truth for you – you may not be of God. Don’t immediately get defensive here. Look at your actions. Examine yourself, and be honest. This is important. Don’t avoid the question. If you don’t want to take a serious look at whether you are saved or not, then that’s a decent indication that you are not saved.

The good news is peppered throughout in this section. “You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. . . . The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” Would you fall into the category of “child of the devil” here? We are born in this state, chasing our own desires from the womb. We are sold out to sin and spend our lives in lust, greed, pride, hatred, and selfishness. We are guilty, and we are not of God.

But Jesus appeared to take away sins. This is so critical to understanding John here. Without Christ, we have nothing. He came and died, and in that death took the punishment that we deserve. He died so that we could become children of God when before we were children of the devil.

Let me be clear on this. This world is not made up of good people and bad people. We are all bad people. The only difference between the children of God and the children of the devil is Grace. It is forgiveness! If we repent and believe in Him, then He is faithful to forgive us.

In Grace, we are adopted as children of God. God puts His Spirit in us, and that foreign righteousness begins to change us. Children of God act differently than children of the devil because God is guiding us from within.

If that hasn’t happened for you, then I will not tell you to do better. I will tell you to look to the Cross. Have you repented of your sins? Have you believed in He who died for our sins?

We, as Christians, are being sanctified by His power. We are being changed to something more resembling Him. That is why we do not make a practice of sinning anymore. Sure, we still sin, and we are still forgiven by His Blood. But before Christ, sin controlled us. Before Him, we were trapped in that lawlessness. No longer.

The longer we walk, the more we will be changed, until that final day when we are perfected by His Grace. In the meantime, we will find ourselves looking more and more to God and less and less at the world. The practice of sinning will start to fade.

We are not perfected yet. We have all sinned this very day. That’s not what John is talking about. He’s talking about a redemption that changes us. He is telling us to look at ourselves. If we have not changed, then we may not be redeemed. If we are still chasing lawlessness, then we may not be His. Whose child are you? To deny the question answers it clearly enough.

Wanna hear something cool?

“My son, keep your father's commandment, and forsake not your mother's teaching.”
-Proverbs 6:20

When Abraham came back from a particular battle, he met a man who was both priest and king. His name was Melchizedek. He appears for a few short verses in Genesis 14. It’s such a tiny part of the book that you forget it almost immediately, at least unless you know what it means.

The author of Hebrews, many centuries later, wrote extensively on how this man foreshadowed the coming of Christ. This tiny episode in the life of Abraham was put there very intentionally so that we would know something of Jesus.

I’ve been writing for almost twenty years of my life. I haven’t gotten much of it published, but I have written tens of thousands of words. And most of them were throwaway words. Most of them were only there to get me to the place I wanted to be.

The Bible isn’t like that, and the more I dig, the more I know that to be true. There was a purpose for that priest guy in Genesis – the same one that we may have thought was just a throw away character. It wasn’t just an episode to move the plot forward – it means something.

And it means something profound. The writer of Hebrews spends chapters on this guy, and theologians have spent books on what the writer of Hebrews was talking about. There is a depth here that cannot be compared. There is something, literally, divine behind its composition.

And so many people, even Christians, ignore it. Here we have the story about how God redeems His people, how He brings His purpose to fruition, and how His will is done in even the worst of times, and we think it’s boring.

Don’t ignore this. This is the teaching of your Father. Take it and learn it. Teach it to your children so they will not forsake it. It’s literally the story that brings life. There is no other book that can do that. God uses His word to bring about repentance and faith. It is by this that we are saved.

Without these words, I never would have known I had fallen short of the glory of God. I would have admitted to messing up some times, but I would not have known how offensive my mistakes were. I never would have known that I cannot earn Heaven on my own. I never would have known I needed a Savior.

This Book is His story – the story of Jesus. This is the man who left Heaven, came to earth, and died to take the punishment for our sins. This is His story. If I never heard that story, how would I have known to bow before Him?

Read it. Learn about Him. If you are unfamiliar with the Bible, start in John and Romans. Work out from there. Pray for wisdom. When the Spirit reveals the truth to you, you will be amazed at the depth in there.

Podcast: 1 John: Seeing God and Living

This is a transcript of one of our recent podcasts. To subscribe to the podcast using iTunes, please click here. To listen to the podcast without iTunes, please follow this link.

And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.
-1 John 2:28-3:3

It was right at two years ago that I met, in person for the first time, the woman who is now my wife. We actually met online, and we had talked quite a bit by the time we finally met in person.

I remember that day very well. I carefully picked out what I would wear, made sure you bathed and shaved so I would be pretty. I had cleaned out my car and such so I wouldn’t look like a slob. Basically, I did what I could to make myself presentable. It seems to have worked, it seems, since we were married in November of that same year.

Most people, I think, would go through such preparations for a first date. It’s a very natural thing to do – to sort of put your best foot forward.

But when it comes to the return of Christ, I don’t think we take anything close to the same sort of care. I think this is so strange, people are so worried about what others think of them, but if you ask them about what God thinks of them, they immediately say, “Oh, He’s got no problem with me. I’m a good person.”

John does something very interesting here, and it’s all spawned off this idea of abiding in Christ. This came out of his discussion of the antichrist, where he warned us of enemies of Christ, but at the same time reminded us that we abide in Christ, and therefore we will not be misled by false teachers. Our eternal security is in Him.

The next thing he tells us is that this abiding is pretty important, because Jesus is coming back, and if we abide in Him, then we have no reason to fear that day. There will be no shame for us. You don’t have to be wearing nice clothes or clear out your car. Abide in Him, and you will be ready.

So the question must come next – how do I know whether I abide in Him? John mentions an answer that he will develop later, and that is that those in Him will act like it. He is the source of righteousness, and so those who act righteously are in Him.

In case you’re worrying, this does not mean that we will earn our salvation by righteousness. The chapter stops here, but those chapter sections were added much later, and John’s thought process has certainly not stopped yet. Since he keeps going, we will too.

He gives us right away the reason that we act differently than the world – that is because we are children of God. And it is not because of our own actions that we have become such, but because of His love.

We have to get this order right. God’s love has saved us, not a work of our own. He has loved us, and in that love chosen us for salvation. In that salvation, by faith, we have become children of God. As children, we do not act like the world acts. They did not understand Jesus, and they won’t understand us either.

This does not happen all at once, and it does not happen completely. At least not yet. Notice what John says in 3:2 – “what we will be has not yet appeared.” A lot of commentators see this is as referring specifically to our glorified bodies. I think this is true, but don’t think merely to the physical. Our context here is righteousness and purity. It’s not just our bodies, but we will be purified in will as well. We have not yet become what is promised to us as children of God. That process of sanctification, which forms us more and more into the image of Christ, is not complete. We are not sinless as Christians. We still mess up over and over again. That is not the righteousness John is talking about. He is talking about a change in us. This change does not save us, but is a result of that salvation.

Ultimately, we will be formed into the image of Jesus. In the end, we will be sanctified. John tells us that “when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”

Let’s not stray at this point. John is not saying we will be gods. We are still the creation, not the Creator. John is speaking of what we will be eternally, in perfected body and will. In this way we will be like Jesus.

But this fascinates me. You’ll remember that in Exodus, God tells Moses “man shall not see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). The reason for this is because of our sin. When Isaiah sees Jesus in Isaiah 6, his immediately reaction is that he is going to die. And he’s going to die because he’s a sinner.

What John tells us about seeing Him as He is should terrify us. We are sinners too – probably worse than Isaiah, who was a very godly man. I’ve been a terrible person, constantly seeking my own advancement over others, chasing lust, filled with pride, putting my greed and ambition above God. If Isaiah thought he was going to die, how much worse am I going to have it?

But there is something different here, and it is a difference that will eventually allow us to see God. We have been purified by the Blood of the Lamb. Our sins were nailed upon the Cross with Jesus, and He died in our place. In repentance and faith, we are washed clean of these sins and clothed with Jesus’ righteousness.

Our debt for our sin has been paid. We can now be judged righteous because of what He did.

We are judged righteous because of what He did, but remember that we have not yet become sanctified. We are not yet like Him. But when we see Him, it is then that we will be sanctified fully.

John ends our section today with these words: “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” This sums it up perfectly – if we hope in Him, that is we have faith, we are purifying ourselves. But this is not ultimately done by our own work, but by His. His righteousness is imputed to us.

Let’s look back at our equation to summarize what we have learned. God loves us, and He saves us, even when we do not deserve it. We can be saved because of what the Son did on the Cross, paying the price for our sin. By faith we become children of God, separated from the world by the work of God. By His work, we are being sanctified, and that process will be finished when we see Him as He is.

In that sanctifying process, though, we are already changed, and that is where John is going with this. We’ll try to take a look at that next time, God willing.

Liars and mischief makers

“a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”
-Proverbs 6:19

I’ve been very interested in these last few verses. Normally, as we have gone through Proverbs, we are seeing truisms. They are statements of advice, and not necessarily promises of a return. We actually run into trouble when we try to apply them universally, because they were never meant for that.

We speak like this all the time. I can give general advice about marriage or finances that may not work in all cases. It doesn’t mean the advice was bad – it only means that there are outside forces.

So not every child who is raised on the Word will be a good person. Generally, they will, but sometimes not. Not everyone who is honest and upright will find success. Not every wicked man will find punishment in this life.

That was a tangent, but with a point. I’ve enjoyed this section very much because of how specific and universal it is. These are seven things God hates. You can be sure of them. It doesn’t matter who you are or what the situation, God hates these things. These are things that God considers to be betrayals.

The sixth in the list is lying, which I think would rule just about everyone out in the list of “good people of the earth.” We lie all the time. It’s almost a second nature.

This is actually the second time in this list he’s mentioned liars, though this time it is specifically in our testimony about others. We can lie about general things, and God hates that, but that’s not what this is about. This is when we lie about people at work. We lie about those we see on the street. We say things that aren’t true to try to make ourselves seem better or to promote our own view of the situation. We exaggerate and twist words. We slander against them.

And we keep doing it whenever we can find an advantage in it.

The final one on the list is the act of sowing discord, or making mischief. This is actually added to the list as the worst of them all, and yet this is something we see rather often. We see people spread gossip at home, church, or at work. We see people, for their own ends, try to stir up anger in others in those same places. Sometimes we seek out chaos because we are upset, or because we want something, or simply because it will help us out. We want others involved in our own pet issues, so we make trouble.

False teachers do this in the church. They come in with foreign doctrines and try to wedge them into the body of Christ. They come with their own issues, whether it be sexual issues, or that women should be pastors, or that God doesn’t want us to drink alcohol, or that Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, or that the true Gospel is economic or political freedom. They are making mischief in the church, and it offends God.

The true Gospel, the Gospel that can save us from God’s wrath against these sins that we have all committed, is this – that Jesus came to earth to die in our place. His Blood satisfied the justice demanded for our sin. Because of that we can be forgiven. Because of His resurrection, we can know that we too will be resurrected, and that we can have eternal life with the Father.

We have all done things the Father hates. But because of the Son, that doesn’t have to be the end of the story.

Schemes and anxiousness to sin

“a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil,”
-Proverb 6:18

Sometimes you stop before you sin. Sometimes, you stand there a moment, asking yourself if you really want to do that. You weigh the pros and cons and make a decision. Often, you decide to sin anyway.

Sometimes you just find yourself in a situation where sin is staring you in the face. There’s no pause there in those cases – you just sin or you don’t. There wasn’t a long internal debate, just, “Yep. That looks fun. Let’s do it!”

Sometimes, you can’t wait to sin. Sometimes you actually hurry toward it. There is something really scary about these times, but we do it. It’s scary because the truth of the depth of our sinfulness is revealed in those moments. We’re not just people who mess up every once in a while – we’re sinners.

It could be an anxiousness to lie about someone to get your own way. It could be to hurry home to commit fornication or look at porn. It could be wanting to get back at your spouse. It could be anything – anything your heart wants so badly that you are looking forward to it.

God hates it. It’s one of the seven things listed in this part of Proverbs that God hates. Honestly, we should hate it too. Nothing speaks so poorly of us than that hope and desire to be evil.

In a similar way, God hates it when we plot evil in our hearts. Maybe we don’t do it this time, but we are thinking it. We are coming up with ways to hurt other people. Sometimes, we come up with elaborate revenge plans.

These things should be terrible to us, but we have become so accustomed to sinning that we don’t think about it much. But God is perfect. He is holy and just, and He sees sin for what it is. It is offensive, and it is, literally, damning.

The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. Death! We deserve death for when we were so anxious to sin. We deserve death for that plot we had against our neighbor. We deserve to die for it.

But even though we deserve to die, God created a way for us to live in Jesus Christ. He came to earth and lived a perfect life. He did not sin, and He did not deserve to die. Of course, He died anyway. He was murdered upon the Cross for our sins.

We need to be honest here – we are guilty of offending the very nature of God. We can’t make it on our own. We need a Savior. He’s the only one that’s earned it.

Podcast: 1 John: Jesus is not the Father

This is a transcript of one of our recent podcasts. To subscribe to the podcast using iTunes, please click here. To listen to the podcast without iTunes, please follow this link.

No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.
-1 John 2:23-24

I came up with the title of this podcast about a week ago, when I was about to record the episode entitled “Jesus is God.” I’ve been letting this title bounce about in my head for a while, and I’m honestly curious about how people are going to take it.

Typically, I think, Christians are aware that Jesus is God. We believe in the Trinity, even if we cannot explain it. I think that if you ask the average people in church on Sunday morning, they will tell you that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit make up the Trinity. They are God. Jehovah’s Witnesses and other cults will deny this, which is one reason we need to study the doctrine carefully. I think it’s important to do episodes like “Jesus is God” even when most Christians would say that so that we know what we believe and why, and we can answer the objections of others.

But while we say we accept the Trinity, I think most Christians really believe in a form of modalism, which is the belief that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are really the same person taking on different roles. Basically, these titles are like masks they wear and nothing more. We don’t really see them as being separate persons who have separate roles.

No, I didn’t say they were different gods. There is only one God. The Bible is very clear on that. And that God is the Trinity – Father, Son, and Spirit. But we can also see in the Bible that the three persons of the Trinity are separate.

This is tough, I know. It’s not something we can fully understand in this life. Honestly, I don’t think we’ll fully understand it in Heaven either, because if we understood the nature of God fully, there would be nothing to separate Creator and creature. So even in the new Heaven and the new Earth, I don’t think we’ll fully understand the nature of God. But especially in this life, we have a tough time with this one.

I think the best analogy I’ve heard explains the Trinity in terms of a good marriage. A married couple is made up of two people, of course, but in a good marriage there is a unity of thought and purpose that is incredible. The Bible says that the two become one, and we can see that in a good marriage. Two people – one flesh.

The Godhead is what they are, but they are three persons. One what – three whos. So there is one God, undivided and unified, and God is made up of the Father, Son, and Spirit, who are separate persons.

That is why John in this section says things like, “Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.” He does not say “Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also because they are the same person.” He is very deliberate in his language here.

Let’s look at a couple of passages where we see the Son as distinct from the Father. We looked in the last episode how Jesus is God already, so please take a listen if you have not heard it. I’m going on the assumption that we agree that Jesus is God before making the distinction between Jesus and the Father.

Jesus tells us, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love” (John 15:9). Now, if Jesus is the Father, then this is a little strange. He would be saying, in essence, “As I love myself, so I loved you.” But that’s not what He’s saying at all.

In Matthew 11:27, He says, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Again, is He talking about Himself in the third person here? This passage would make no sense at all if the Father and Son are the same person.

At Jesus’ baptism, we actually see all three members of the Trinity distinctly. “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:16-17).

Jesus was not throwing His voice here. He did not cause His Spirit to leave Him and then come back down. We see them here distinctly and as three separate persons.

So you’re probably wondering why this matters. It actually matters a great deal, because misunderstanding the doctrine of the Trinity actually leads all sorts of strange ideas about salvation. If you deny that Jesus was God, then you can’t have a perfect and complete sacrifice. A man cannot carry the sins of the world on his shoulders, and neither can an angel. If you deny that they are one God, then you end up with polytheism, which the Bible rejects. If you deny that they are separate persons, then you loss the power of God’s love in the sending of His only begotten Son.

Here’s the truth of the matter in salvation. God the Father has chosen us before the foundation of the world to be redeemed, despite our unworthiness. In sin we have earned death, but He has chosen us to be drawn to Himself.

But justice requires someone to pay the price for our sins, and so God the Son came to earth, lived a perfect life, and died in our place upon a Roman Cross. He rose three days, thus insuring that we too will rise from the dead.

God the Spirit now regenerates our hearts to accept the message of the Gospel. In our sin, we are in rebellion against God, but by the Spirit’s work, our hearts are turned toward Him by convicting us of our sins and giving us faith.

Without the Father, none of us would be drawn. Without the Son, the punishment for our sins would not be paid, and justice would not be satisfied. Without the Spirit, we would continue in our rebellion, never being given the gift of faith. Without the work of each person of the Trinity, we would be lost in our sins.

Our prayers also reflect the three members of the Trinity. We pray to the Father, through the Son, and by the power of the Spirit.

God is worthy of worship, as is each member of the Godhead. One God in three Persons – that is the truth revealed in the Bible. It strikes me as a truth very much worth our time, our efforts to understand, and our praise.

Pride, lies, and violence

“haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,”
-Proverbs 6:17

If God gave you a list of things He just hates, you would think you would pay attention. I mean, that’s important, don’t you think? That’s worth our attention?

Of course we would say yes right away, and yet the Bible gives us such lists, and we ignore them. One such list is the Ten Commandments. In this section of Proverbs, we are told very clearly that these are “things that the LORD hates” (verse 16).

Does that interest you? Are you at all curious? People have a problem with the doctrine of hell these days, and I know why they do – they don’t understand what God hates. They know what they themselves hate, and they just assume God is the same way. And so we can’t imagine that someone would go to hell for lying or having lustful thoughts. That is beyond our comprehension. We think we’re basically good people, because we don’t do many things that we hate, and we don’t even both to look at what God hates.

Pride is the first thing, and we’re all drowning in it. That very attitude that “I’m a good person” is a prideful one, especially when we don’t even look at what the true definition of “good” is. The Bible tells us otherwise. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There is none righteous. We look at our own lives with confidence and pleasure, seeing all the things we have amassed for ourselves, the family we have built, the reputation we have, the accolades and promotions. We are pleased with our own understanding and intellect. We think we’re doing just fine, and so we go about our lives thinking nothing of God or the mercy He has had with us.

It is offensive. Those actions and thoughts are offensive to God. He has created you to bring honor to Him, and you live to bring honor to yourself. He is worthy of all praise, and you try to get praise for yourself.

Liars offend God. God is always truthful, always honest. He never lies. He cannot lie. He is holy and good, and it is against His very nature to lie. But we do it all the time. We twist the truth, tell half truths, and outright lie all the time. God has given us truth as something beautiful and wonderful, and we have trampled on it. We have used it as a plaything.

God also hates those who do violence. We may not all be guilty of this one, but we’re probably only innocent because we’re afraid of going to jail. In truth, we are all tempted to hurt others. In that moment of anger, we want to hurt someone who was made in God’s image. Those thoughts are offensive to Him.

These are only the first three of seven that are listed here, but already we can see that we may not do so well if held against God’s standard of right and wrong and not our own. We want to believe that we’re doing fine, but we’re not.

We have all sinned, and we all deserve punishment for those sins. But in love Jesus came to earth to die on our behalf, taking those sins upon Himself. If we repent and believe in Him, He will forgive us, having already paid the price for our offenses against God. We can’t look to ourselves for salvation, but we can look to Him.

Once we are forgiven, let’s remember these things as things that God hates. Our society may not think lying is a big deal, but our God does, and His opinion is the only one that matters. We may still stumble, and we will still be forgiven. So cast your eyes upon the Cross and remember what He has done for our lies, for our anger, and for our pride.

Seven things that bug me

“There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him:”
-Proverbs 6:16

List out seven things you hate. Go ahead – I’ll be here when you get back. Now, I don’t mean like spinach or reality television. I mean like evil things. Certain types of crimes.

If I were to make my list, I think that, obviously, rape and murder would be on there. Abortion would make the list easily. Also pornography, child molesters, and people who use the Bible to tell the sick and the elderly to send them money. I suppose false teachers in general really, really bother me.

Maybe those last two can go together, but that’s off the top of my head.

Solomon makes a list here of six things that the Lord hates, and a seventh that is worse than them all, and the list may surprise us. We’re going to list them today, and then, God willing, deal with them in more detail in days to come.

1) Pride
2) Lying
3) Murder
4) Scheming
5) Anxiousness to do evil
6) Slander
7) Spreading discord

Okay, so I expected “murder,” certainly. Being anxious to do evil is something that doesn’t surprise me. The rest cause me to think. Think about it for a minute – when you lie, you are doing something that makes the short list of things God hates.

I think that one of the main reasons this generation does not worry about the judgment of God is that it doesn’t understand the heart of God. We see things that OTHER people do as perhaps evil, but a lie or two doesn’t hurt anyone. Planning to get back at someone doesn’t really qualify as a huge sin. Our lists are more like the one I tried to come up with above. It is filled with the sins we see on the news, but not sins we ourselves commit.

But lying is an offense to God. Slander is horrible to Him. These are not things to just be passed over, but they are rebellious acts against a just and Holy God. We may scoff at that, but that is only to put our own concept of good and evil above His, and He has infinitely more qualifications to make that call.

If we do not share His heart in these things, then it is only a reflection of our own fallen nature. We are so tied up in ourselves that we cannot imagine that we have done serious evil that is worthy of stern punishment. We assume God is cool with us, but He is not!

This is exactly why Jesus had to come. If lying is such an offense against God, and it is, then who can call himself just? Who can claim to be righteous? Not one. We all deserve punishment. But God is loving, just as He is Holy, and He sent His only begotten Son to earth to live a perfect life and die in our place. If you believe in Him, then He paid for your sins on that Cross.

By the work of the Spirit, we are gradually conformed to be a better person. Someday, when we are glorified through Him, then we will have this same heart against evil, and we will also finally not fall on the list. Until that day, Jesus will continue to intercede for us with the Father.

Someday is sooner than you think

“therefore calamity will come upon him [the wicked man] suddenly; in a moment he will be broken beyond healing.”
-Proverbs 6:15

There have been times when I thought my life was broken beyond the ability of anyone to fix. Mostly, I have these moments because I am seeing so narrowly that I can’t recognize that things can change, and probably will change within the next hour or so.

I get these moments sometimes when arguing with my wife. I’ll all at once forget how really great our marriage has been, and I just despair. It’s silly, and it’s selfish and childish.

I had some health problems (which turned out to be very minor) a couple of years back and thought the same thing – this is it! It’s over. Not even close. I had exaggerated thing in my own head so much and blown everything out of proportion.

But one day, it’s really going to end. One day, it will be over.

As much as we worry about every little thing in our lives, it is often hard to even fathom that. One day, life will be done.

In this life, we cannot count on justice. It’s not always going to be true that the bad guy is caught and locked up, and that the good guy is going to succeed. It doesn’t always happen like that. That frustrates us. It frustrates me quite a bit. And when Solomon tells us that the wicked man is going to face calamity, we want to believe that, but we don’t.

Except for that one day that we don’t really want to think about. Except for that one day when we die.

Solomon is pointing here to a greater judge than merely human courts. Solomon is pointing to a court where the decisions are final, where the rulings include no leeway. He is pointing to a time where it’s too late for healing, for repentance, and for mercy. It will be a time where you’ve run out of second chances.

And he’s talking about you. In the previous verses, he describes this wicked man as simply one who is deceptive and self-centered. He’s not talking about some murderer; he’s talking about us.

One day, we will all stand before God to answer for our thoughts, words, and deeds. We will have to answer for every lustful thought, every moment of greed, and every unkind word. We will have to answer for every lie, every blasphemy, and every time we coveted something that wasn’t ours.

But there is good news. It is true that will be a time where there will be no further healing, but that time is not here yet. On that day, there will be no further mercy, but that day is not here yet. There is still time to turn away from sin, repent to God for our wickedness, and ask His forgiveness.

Forgiveness is possible. It’s possible because of Jesus’ death on the Cross. When He died, He took the punishment we had earned for our sins. He took our place in death. If we believe in Him, we can be saved.

Don’t wait until it is too late. That day will come. Be ready for it.